câblevscarneWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“câble” and “carne” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#4,849
“câble” frequency rank
#45,492
“carne” frequency rank
50341
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature câble carne
Definition Gros cordage formé de l’assemblage de plusieurs torons de chanvre, d’aloès, d’acier, etc. Angle, coin saillant d’une pièce d'architecture ou de menuiserie.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set câble and carne apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
câble
5 ch
carne

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. câble (\kabl\) and carne (\kaʁn\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50341, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

câble is recorded at frequency rank #4,849, classified as anoun, pronounced \kabl\. carne is at rank #45,492, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kaʁn\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 50341, this pair ranks #163,402 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of câble vs carne

Shared letters: ce. Private to "câble": blâ. Private to "carne": anr.

"câble" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "carne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • carneacrne · canre · caren · carnne · carrne · ccarne

Frequency comparison

câble#4,849
carne#45,492

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "câble" and "carne" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kabl\ versus \kaʁn\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "câble" or "carne"?
"câble" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,849 in our French list, against #45,492 for "carne". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering câble vs carne

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “câble” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list